#while for neve it's not even an issue. she is a woman and she likes being a woman

[sun-marie]

Y'know, with all the (mostly good) writing and focus on gender in Taash's arc, I think what Neve's arc is doing in relation to gender is the most powerful thing this game does with gender (or resonates with me the most at least, a cis woman myself)

Other people have mentioned it before, but by all accounts Neve is fulfilling a "male" role in this story. She's the noir detective not the femme fatale, she's a terminal cynic, she eats bad food, she lives alone in a small apartment, and in one route of her arc she is a hardened protector of her city. All of these elements, while not necessarily restricted by gender, are absolutely associated and attributed to male characters.

But Neve also refuses to give up her femininity. She asks Taash if they "like" being a woman (implying Neve does) she wears lowcut-shirts and dresses, she ties her hair up when she goes out. Just because Neve doesn't fit what society typically thinks a woman is, she still is a woman. I can so easily see the writers going down the route that she's "not like other girls" and having her fully reject any and all femininity, and I'm so glad they didn't. It's more subtle then something like Taash's arc, sure, but I really appreciate a lot.

[mojo-bro-tho]

Paean of Old and Present Days... Ch.3

Note: Like I said, expect another post almost immediately. I will slow down on the posting for chapters starting now because I now feel comfortable with the word count balance. That first chapter was something.

Here is a link to Ch. 1 (AO3 specific, see my post for Ch. 2 if you'd like an explanation for that.) And this will be the link to the actual post for Ch. 2. And finally, link to Ch. 3 with AO3 if you refer. I'll have a better set up for the link next time, promise!

Edit to include word count: 3,793 

Kindness At A Price

Meeting Neve was about as uneventful as it could have gone. The mage made very little announcement of her arrival, simply appearing to the quiet astonishment of everyone who already knew her. Though, Emmrich hardly found that shocking based on what Bellara and Rook had told him. He also near instantly understood where Lenore’s concerns were coming from. He was relieved to see that again, her compassion was palpable. The Warden’s eyes muddled contritely seeing the woman, and she took no offense at the short response that was given in regards to it. Her gaze would sometimes linger towards her Tevinter companion, and he could see her holding back her expression to not appear too pitying. But still, there was a deep hurt lingering beneath it, one he was astounded that no one else seemed to pick up on. 

Upon getting the chance to speak with Neve separately, Emmrich did not believe she was intentionally keeping Lenore at arms length for malicious reasons. She was cordial, nice even, something he hadn’t expected from a mage from Tevinter. He was happy to at least be proven wrong on that count. Shamefully, he worried that perhaps Lenore’s being Elven may have something to do with their distant relationship. But to his relief, Neve didn’t seem to have anything bad to say about their leader. Rather she just had very little to say in general. Perhaps Bellara was right, and whatever was said was not meant on a personal level. That was his hope. 

Lenore herself went back to work with little fanfare. He swore if he turned around for even 5 seconds he might catch her running off to handle yet another miniscule issue. He’d only been at the Lighthouse for a few days but he was already realizing just how much of a workload Rook had taken on. Was she always this way, or was this the stress of the circumstances? Neither answer seemed better. 

Emmrich had planned to ask her to accompany him to the Necropolis for some business Myrna had brought to his attention, but now he was second guessing himself. Bellara had made it clear during their tour that Lenore was ‘different’ and he was more than starting to see what she meant. The woman never truly seemed to sit still. Even while on the ferry in the Crossroads, she busied her hands or her feet with any number of little activities. Cleaning her sword, polishing her shield, counting potions, tapping her heel into the wood as if she were practicing footing for drills. How her bones didn’t ache from the constant strain was beyond him. 

Every once in a while, he would also catch her doing the most peculiar thing. Mouthing words to herself. Reciting something in her head while the lips moved silently. Committing the shape of phrases to memory. This was especially prevalent when she read missives, or re-read missives, or re-re-read missives. Some part of him wished to lean in closer whenever she did this, to try and catch a whisper in the inevitable exhale or the air between it. But of course, he would stop himself. Not wanting to invade her personal space, or not wanting to be obscene at the very least.

Strangely enough, it was Neve herself who, quite bluntly, convinced him to ask for Lenore’s assistance against his better judgement. He was aware she was a detective, Bellara had shown him several papers to prepare for her return, but her observations were almost frighteningly accurate. That and her timing was far too precise. 

“Wait for her to come to you.” She told him. 

“I beg your pardon?” He asked, turning to find the recently introduced Neve a mere few feet behind him. 

He had been waiting in the library, taking a quick glance at the titles that graced the shelves. Well, perhaps longer than a glance. Manfred had decided to busy himself with the remnants of the boxes in his new room so he chanced a moment to explore close by. Neve herself hadn’t exactly snuck up on him either, he was semi aware of her presence and had heard her walk up to him. But he was rather absorbed by everything he was seeing. 

“You keep rereading the same line of books on the shelf and then watch Rook pass by before moving on to the next one. She makes her rounds, she’ll come find you to see what you want to ask.” She responded, placing a hand on her hip

“Ah.” He truly overestimated his own subtlety. “Well, there lies the problem. I am unsure if I should. She appears to be rather… preoccupied.” 

“You should.” Neve said plainly. 

“I’ve only just arrived, I don’t want to kick up a fuss for the poor girl.” Emmrich shook his head dismissively. 

“No, you seriously should. Trust me. Rook is the type where unless she's bed ridden, she won’t stop. If not you, she’ll just throw herself into another project. One that might actually get her hurt if she doesn’t focus up. You wouldn’t be adding so much as you would be pivoting her attention. Honestly, whatever you were needing her for, I’m sure it would be a nice break from what she’d been doing.” 

“What exactly has she been doing?” 

“Fighting dragons, worrying herself over Minrathous to the point where she made sure more than enough Wardens came by to try and stop the Blight from spreading, taking the time to organize the relief aid.” Neve sighed. “It’s almost insulting that she tried to hide it too. Who else could have told Weisshaupt fast enough without using the Crossroads? Child’s play, really.” 

Neve strutted towards the bookshelf, plucking a thin novel from its hold. Her thumb casually peeled back the cover as she absentmindedly looked through the pages. Suddenly, the door into the library opened. Emmrich looked over his shoulder to once again find Lenore rushing through. Their eyes locked and she smiled warmly his way. 

“Hello, Professor. Is our library to your liking?” She asked, slowing her pace into a stop, resting one foot atop the bottom of the staircase. 

“Oh, it is something to behold, I must say! There are some truly invaluable titles here.” Emmrich answered happily. 

Even while in the Lighthouse, Lenore dressed for combat. She wore a slender breastplate and reinforced leather padding on her arms and legs. Now that he thought about it, he didn’t think he’d seen her in anything but armor so far. Her entire body was covered until the middle of the neck, always prepared for some unforeseen darkspawn teeth, he imagined. Even her hands remained obscured, not only under gloves but bound by sleeves and thread. 

“I’m glad to hear it! I haven’t gotten the chance to look through much of it myself so hopefully you can tell me if there’s anything worthwhile. Is the progress with the room going well?” She asked.

“Indeed it has, and I shall.” As Emmrich responded, Lenore began making her way up the stairs. 

“That’s good to know. I have to ask our dragon expert a few questions but if you’ve available I can swing by to check in! It shouldn’t be too long. Good book, Neve?”

“Riveting.” She retorted. 

“Still glad to have you back!” Lenore called out once reaching the top of the stairs and soon disappearing down the hall belonging to Taash. Once she heard the door close, Neve pulled her focus back to Emmrich. 

“She’s been following me around ever since I got back, trying to keep an eye on me. Seriously, get her out of here for a little bit. I think it’ll help us both. She means well, but she needs to take a step away for both our sakes. I’ll owe you a favor, Emmrich.” Neve closed the book and slipped it back into place. 

Just as promptly as she had entered a conversation with him, she left out the library door. Emmrich was a little taken aback by the whole interaction. Neve certainly left an impression. His gaze trailed away from one door to the knowing distance of another. If she was as observant as she seemed, he’d have to take her word on what she said about Lenore. As good as it was to have a friend close by who cared, it could also be suffocating. Neve seemed to be trying to keep her distance for the time being to avoid that. Perhaps she was right and Lenore did need a change in scenery while still keeping her mind busy. 

Emmrich returned to his room after that. He complimented Manfred on a job well done, along with a speedy set up. Before too long, he’d hear a knock at his door as he stood close to the cold fireplace. He expected to find Lenore but instead came the voice of Bellara. 

“Professor Volkarin? It’s Bellara!” Her voice muddled behind the door. 

“Do come in, we’re just about finished for the day.” Emmrich invited. 

He would take the time to handle all the more delicate unpacking once Manfred had found something else to do. Wisps never sat still either. That may be another reason why his assistant seemed to take so quickly to their leader. He decided he would make a note of that later. Bellara sneaked her head through the doorway before shuffling inside in a short strided sprint. 

“Sorry, I actually expected Rook to be in here! But I was curious to see how well unpacking was going.” She admitted sheepishly.

“Why would Rook be in here?” Emmrich asked. 

“Well, she made it seem like she would be? She said she’s been dying to get a chance to hear more about what you do! I didn’t know she was so interested in necromancy, since she isn’t a mage, but she seemed to be looking forward to talking to you.” 

Emmrich himself wasn’t sure why that would interest her either. He hadn’t been outside of Nevarra too many times, and it was already surprising to see Lenore so unperturbed by his magic, but to be excited to discuss it? That was borderline unheard of for someone not as connected to the Fade. Sure the others had been polite enough to him, but aside from Bellara and Lenore, Emmrich had noticed a few… misunderstandings. Mostly involving Manfred’s purpose. It was comforting to think that someone else besides his previous correspondent didn’t find him unnerving. Though he supposed he ought not be too dumbfounded, he was after all equally as charmed by the prospect of learning more about being a Warden. Perhaps they shared an unbridled inquisitiveness for things beyond their inherent comprehension.

Bellara meandered, hands clasped behind her back while swaying towards his bookshelf. She looked over several of the titles and Emmrich followed along to see what caught her eyes. Eventually, they settled on a well loved copy of one of his many research materials.

“A third addition of The Unnamable Element? I didn’t even know it had additions!” She exclaimed.

“Oh, it is much improved with the index! Please borrow it, if you like.” Emmrich offered. Truly, it was worth the read. The third addition was his favorite. 

“I’d love to- oh, Rook!” The sound of the door closing and grounded footfall entered the room alongside Lenore. “You probably wanted to say hi. Thanks, Professor!” Bellara said, quickly taking her leave. He would drop the book off to her as soon as he got the chance. 

“You look moved in.” Lenore addressed him, placing both hands on her hips with a pleased grin. 

“Just a few essentials. Manfred was a great help with the boxes.” Upon hearing his name, Manfred hissed happily. “What a fascinating place this Lighthouse is! What do you make of it?”

“I think I like it better with a necromancer in the place.” Lenore replied. Her expression remained pleasant, without force. The earnestness once again astounded him, or rather her forwardness in this case. If she was putting on a front, it was a damn good one. Emmrich may not have always been the best at picking up when people were being deceptive, but based on what he had seen of her so far, he could not imagine that was the explanation. Still, he doubted.

“Do you?” He couldn’t help but ask.

“Especially one with experience.” There was a playful glint in her eyes coupled with the sweet words. A gloved hand raised, pushing away the loose strands of her hair that were freed from the style she kept it up in. Do all Wardens keep their hair up if not cut short? He imagined they’d have to. But the light from above sank so gloomily onto her head, making the white shade brighter and the shadows almost solid, that the question fizzled away. 

“I must be sure to live up to expectations.”

“Did you get the tour yet?” She glanced about the room, conspiratorially. “And I mean, the full tour.”

“Oh, I’ve been exploring, but-” Again, he hesitated. His earlier worry of burdening her returned to him. But he managed to bit back that worry quick enough to continue. “I noticed a few of the others taken aback by Manfred. And I overheard remarks about my skulls. My necromancy won’t cause any undue worry, will it?”

Truly, the question was more for her than anyone else. She had been nothing but charitable in her demeanor towards him. Emmrich was used to people keeping him at a distance, ready to be examined. He would hate, perish the thought, to cause any turmoil amongst the network she had built. Especially now that someone had returned from a rather intense bout of time away. And again, her lips upturned, tickled at the idea of his worry which to her must have seemed somewhat unwarranted. 

“We’re still getting used to one another.”

“True. And yet-”

“Give it time, we’ll settle in.”

Whatever profound sentiment Lenore had planned to give was thoroughly interrupted by an impatient hiss from Emmrich’s assistant. On his tray was a light book that Emmrich had previously been searching for. Manfred finding it now must mean that the organization he had previously cared for had gone awry at some point. That would require a quick correction. 

“Please excuse me. Manfred and I should finish our inventory. Thank you for stopping by.”

Lenore’s eyes softened at their bottom corners. Large, doe-eyed, and lively while unprecedentedly wisened for someone her age. Though she was assuring him, there was a strange undertone of sympathy and expectation. As she began to walk away, making slow steps backwards before turning towards his door, Emmrich surprised even himself. 

“Actually, Rook. I do have a couple of questions for you. If you don’t mind.” 

Her face was slightly obscured by the fall of her white hair while looking over her shoulder towards him. But he could make out the very edge of her lips quirk back up into a grin. Unfortunately, he found himself quite fixated on it for more than a reasonable moment. 

“Yes, Professor?” She asked, a slight hum hidden beneath her voice. 

“Just Emmrich is fine, that goes for both you and Bellara.” He began. “Rook, would you be interested in visiting the Memorial Gardens?” 

“What are you up to?” Lenore questioned. He was relieved to see that the idea wasn’t unpleasant to her despite what her first experience was like. 

“I must tend to some rites in the Necropolis.” His hands pressed flat against each other, a habit he formed when attempting to not move so animatedly. “It should be peaceful, and quite undisturbed. You’d be most welcome company.” 

“Sounds nice. I wouldn’t mind joining you at all. I’d actually like to see more of what the Necropolis is like without Venatori trudging through the place. Was that all you wanted to ask me?” 

The Watcher found it difficult to tell if her tone on the last question was more tongue-in-cheek or slightly disappointed. The way her accent rolled the word ‘all’ gave a hint of something more expectant. Was she being… coy? Her calves flexed, briefly raising her onto her toes, as though she was leaning into him despite the fair distance between them. 

It was all rather peculiar. How unabashed she would be one second and yet near coquettish the next. Perhaps he was imagining it. She had been almost too eager to assist him previously while in the Necropolis. Covetous over the prospect of seeking fulfillment, purpose, to fix something broken. Part of him worried that asking her for her help again might give her a false impression of his intentions being there. So, instead of asking for a willing hand to seek out the wisps Myrrna had written to him about, he offered a reprieve instead. 

At the same time, wondered how different his youth would have been had he listened to that more voracious side of himself the way she did. He was undeniably fascinated with her. Not just her plethora of stories she had to have, but her herself. Which led him to the question Bellara had presented to him earlier. And now, suddenly feeling rather ravenous in his own curiosity, he indeed posed another inquiry for the young woman.

“Are you by chance familiar at all with necromancy? You seem to have an… unexpected, but very appreciated, acceptance of it.” 

Granted, it wasn’t as if he had shown her much of what necromancy had to offer, besides simple reanimations. But still, he recalled her beguiling expression upon their first meeting. How her eyes glowed with an enraptured intrigue over the sight of him. He imagined that was a privilege not many Nevarrans received from foreigners. In retrospect, he thought it sad that he anticipated more ridicule or malice from his peers on this venture. Lenore’s expression turned pensive. Her eyes trailed away from him and up towards the tall ceiling. 

“I’m not familiar with it, no. Actually you might be the only necromancer I’ve ever met. Unless Myrna and Vorgoth are also necromancers?” Her eyebrows came together as she searched her mind for something. Upon finding nothing, she looked back to Emmrich with another simple smile that made his body feel weighed down. 

“They are but… are you certain? I’ve never met someone outside of Nevarra so amenable to it without question.” He couldn’t help but be skeptical. A flash of understanding danced inside her eye sockets. 

“Oh, that. I’m an Elf, and a Warden too. If every person in the world believed the ignorant comments made about my people, we’d be in even more trouble than we already are. I was taught to see things for how they are, not how others talk about them. I’ve met Myrna, Vorgoth, and now you. You don’t seem bad to me, so why should I treat you like you are?”

It was interesting that she brought up both her heritage and her career in her surmation. He was aware that the Elven people were treated less than fairly, to different degrees and in different ways of horror depending on where you fell on the map. It wasn’t unheard of in Nevarra either, sadly. But were Wardens also misunderstood? Was it comparable? 

“Is it truly that simple? Plenty of people still get uncomfortable with things they don’t understand, even if well intended.” He pointed out. 

“I guess that’s true. I don’t know, maybe you just made a really good first impression of what a necromancer could be like? Again, that flaming skull thing you did was really something!” She chuckled. 

“That’s… very kind of you to say.” He replied. 

She truly was something unexpected. He felt like he just kept repeating that to himself every time the two spoke but he was baffled by it. To have another person admit ignorance to a topic while also not showing even a hint of unease or distrust. He had many fears, many worries, even worse in his younger years regarding how others saw him. If he had a friend like her back then, how many more expeditions would he have taken off on? How many more nights away from home would he have spent? 

“Trust me, Emmrich, I’m not speaking out of kindness. I’m just very honest, remember?” Lenore corrected. “We can go check out things happening in the Necropolis soon. Can I come get you when I’m ready?” She asked, cocking her head to the side. 

“That would be perfect.” 

With that, Lenore fluttered one last beaming in the professor’s direction. She looked much more pleased than she had before. Emmrich could see the strain in her cheeks to try and keep up a happy face while worrying over Neve. It felt satisfying, to see her relax enough to grin without pretext. Without a need to uphold an appearance. 

“I look forward to spending more time together, Professor.” A cheeky response given how he just corrected her over calling him that. A dense sense of deja vu fell over him as she turned to leave once again. She had said something similar the last time they spoke alone. Looking forward to speaking with him again, to spend time with him.

It wasn’t until she reached the door that Emmrich noticed just how burdensome his lungs had become near the end of that conversation. He blinked several times, trying in some confused attempt at banishing whatever had fixated him in that moment. Perhaps he was more worried about her than what he had originally thought. Or maybe it had something to do with the way she spoke. 

Saying she wasn’t speaking from kindness seemed unbelievable since her voice fell like honey. If not sweet words, then what else? He cursed himself for even lingering on it, he knew better than that. Though, it seemed what Neve had said was correct. Lenore was more than willing to jump into any project, no matter her experience in the topic. It was an admirable trait, certainly. After all, how many mortals had enough practice in god slaying to warrant a confidence in it? Her sort of people were needed in times like this. 

But that also came with drawbacks. Not only did she seem a perfectionist to him, but also a hypocritical one, as most perfectionists tended to be. Sure, she may be willing to deviate from the standard, but that could only come at the price of her own peace of mind. He felt vindicated for wanting to keep an eye on her, and he hoped he could help guide her towards some better habits if she’d accept them. Some meditative practices might do her well if she’d accept his offer to craft a ward. Emmrich decided he’d make one for her just in case.

[utilitycaster]

so I did The Soul of a City and Neve's final companion quest except for the capstone (frustratingly, I did them in that order initially, realized Neve couldn't make up her mind because I hadn't done The Returned Cultist Case, went BACK but because I am the No Saves We Die Like Varric woman the only available save was after Rook talks to the various Shadow Dragons but before picking Archon, so I will have to find someone who clipped the conversation with Neve because I couldn't go back) and I feel like I stand by the statement that it's good that the consequences are very different for saving Minrathous and Treviso, and I strongly disagree that I'd make the same choices in a Save Minrathous run as the ones I'm pushed into in a Save Treviso run (ie, I wouldn't work with the Threads if there were another option) but I think the issue is that, since Minrathous is ground zero in the end game regardless of what happens, it kind of makes Neve's choice feel a little...inconsequential, except in a very specific case:

If you save Treviso, Neve is forced into the choice of working with the Threads (organized crime) and you do not get to have any input into the next Archon, but ultimately both Dorian and Maevaris have good political positions; it's a difference in approach. However, because the city is so wrecked in this case I have to wonder if like, the Threads survive. Neve's story is much more of someone in impossible and horrible circumstances doing the best she can, which I find deeply compelling, and one wonders how much of the Venatori/Templars even make it through, so the story of Minrathous is also very much one of building back from the ground up.

If you save Minrathous and you take the heroic route (Aelia is arrested, Rana quits the Templars and joins Neve as a private investigator), then there's something very good to be said about not compromising, as Neve doesn't care for the Threads as is made clear earlier on - she'll work with them as informants, but she doesn't like their methods. You can pick either Dorian or Mae, but in this option Neve prefers Mae. This is pretty unambiguously noble and heroic!

If you save Minrathous and pick the "whatever it takes" option, that's where I think there's something interesting if uniquely tragic, because it's not fully "you have betrayed and destroyed yourself for nothing" but it doesn't feel great to urge Neve to be a protector at all costs, including her own early game instincts, only for the city to get slammed with the Blight Apocalypse soon after and cast into question if it even mattered.

And, because it's relevant because this is an either/or situation, whereas the vibe is "Minrathous is going to, at minimum, really go through it no matter what, the Venatori will be destroyed, and Neve will find a way forward", yeah, Lucanis really kind of doesn't get better until very, very late in the game. Or for lack of a better way to put it, Inner Demons, while it is about an individual guy and not, well, the capital of an empire, goes about a thousand times harder as a story. Blighted Treviso really drives home the personal elements in a way Blighted Minrathous doesn't, and of course there's a discussion to be had about social violence/murder vs. armed conflict and occupation and human interest vs. the larger political picture, and, cards on the table, once I got over the whole snakes and ladders of the layout I actually love Minrathous and Dock Town as a setting, more so than Treviso; but just. Neither story fails to achieve the basic goals I think any story should achieve in terms of narrative or whatever, but saving Treviso feels weightier and more interesting. If you save Minrathous, four named Crows, three with significant roles in the story, die, two in heroic sacrifice. If you save Treviso? The Shadow Dragon shopkeeper and one or two others with fairly minor roles die (though the Viper can die if you don't do the location quests). I also think the quest in which the Viper is kidnapped, and Desperate in Dock Town are, frankly, among the strongest (and most interesting, lore-wise) quests in Minrathous and those don't happen in a save Minrathous run. And finally, while the villains in Treviso are hilariously obvious (Illario and Ivenci, subtlety is not thy name), the writing is just. better. Like, I prefer Neve to Lucanis as a character, though Lucanis is a close second, but man some of the dialogue writing for Minrathous doesn't land, and ironically a lot of the weaknesses are specifically with Aelia (happens either way) or the Shadow Dragons (nonissue if you save Treviso as they're mostly gone). Treviso stuff is melodramatic in a fun way that feels true to the vibe, which is very soap opera; Neve's personal writing is pretty strong but Minrathous's plotline writers could have used a TCM noir marathon or a Dashiell Hammett reading binge and a couple rewrites.

Finally, I found it really frustrating that the dialogue among Shadow Dragon leadership until after The Soul of a City is highly limited and only really opens up after. This is a huge part of my complaint about Rivain and so it applies here because that's just...really late in the game, and it's even more egregious for the Shadow Dragons/Minrathous because I have like, three more quests there and one of them is the endgame trigger conversation with Morrigan. At least Rowan shows up in Rivain and then you have like 5 location quests and therefore plenty of reasons to go there, even if the pacing is a bit fucked. I just feel like I lose so much more by leaving Treviso to the dragon on pretty much every level. In terms of what is best in-world, especially at the time when Rook is making the decision, if you can separate yourself as the player from Rook as a character who does not, in fact, know the true consequences, it really is impossible to say! I don't think the writing of the decision itself is bad! But saving Minrathous just feels more pyrrhic and less narratively satisfying, in the end, even before the confirm that the blight in Minrathous is entirely dead due to the events of the endgame. I'm glad I did a save Minrathous run to see the difference, but yeah man I'm saving Treviso in all future replays unless I really want to play a Shadow Dragon again.

[therookandthecrow]

Lucanis is my Rook's deepest relationship so far, although he was drawn to Lucanis' looks right away, it's his personality that keeps him there. Lethanavir (who goes by Aloisius by the third act of the game) was used to shallow flings after his divorce from Dhaveira, a Dalish woman who wasn't happy that he wasn't going to leave the Mourn Watch to live a Dalish life with her. That was just the beginning, little did he know.

Furthermore, he's used to playing the field, so he flirts with all of his companions because his trust issues are in a battle royale with his desire for companionship and intimacy, and it doesn't help that all of his companions are very attractive. He kicks himself for being a hypocrite for getting jealous when Lucanis flirts with Neve and Davrin, while he has flirted with both of them as well. He flirted his own way into this categorical mess.

The immediate nature of how he catches feelings for Lucanis takes him by surprise greatly. He wasn't looking for love expressly when he joined the Veilguard, he was looking for maybe a shallow fling or two at most? Lucanis caught him completely by surprise, and what a pleasant surprise he was. As soon as he saw him, even if he didn't know it yet, he had found his true love, maybe not his first, but the one with whom he'd spend the rest of his days with.

He had such a hard time resisting Neve's cool, detective charm, and how she bounces back from even the most perilous of incidents, as well as her impeccable style, and the kindness underneath her cool surface, Davrin's confident swagger and his stern, soldier-like demeanor combined with his tenderness towards Assan, Harding's earnest sweetness, down-to-earth, approachable nature, and her plucky bravery, Bellara's brilliance, enthusiasm, and drive to explore their people's past (elves) and her kindness (especially that which she showed to Neve), Emmrich's distinguished gentlemanly flair, his common ground as a Mourn Watcher and how sweet he is, along with his parental flair with Manfred, how Taash is so blunt, yet they are also very kind underneath their hard shell ('asshole with a heart of gold'), and how they wear their heart on their sleeve, and how Lucanis is so thoughtful, generous, and desperately needs someone in his corner (not to mention those beautiful brown eyes) - how can he resist those eyes.

[roe-and-memory]

Hello! Might I ask if you have any Headcanons on strip? He's literally my favorite yet only has like 5 minutes of screen time :'(

(Or any doodles??? Cowboy man???)

HI!! yes of course we do, i LOVE strip

im so sorry this took us so long to get to, but i wont ur time anymore ENJOY!!

DOODLE BELOW!!!

strip grew up with racing, his dad was a racer and he definitely started as soon as he was old enough to. at some point in his life, he and his dad raced side by side. i think he started racing in 1970, probably at 18, his first car was the plymouth superbird and he not only got his number 43, but with his dads winning money he got the actual showroom model of one too. his dad bought it for him as a late birthday gift/“congrats on your first race, kid” gift. he still has both of them in his shop at home.

i also believe strip and lynda were highschool sweethearts. they got married as soon as possible and have been married with no issues ever since. he LOVES that woman with every bone in his body and would throw himself in front of a train if it meant saving her life. i like to think that they went to the same highschool, but REALLY met at a local derby. she won the derby (this was maybe? grade 10?) and he was totally blown away by 1. how gorgeous this girl was 2. the fact he’d seen her in the halls at school 3. the fact that they had such similar interests but never spoke before. he found his way to where she was and striked up a little conversation by complimenting her and starting racing talk. they fell for each other right then and there, but didnt start dating until 2 or 3 months later.

he and tex have been friends for a WHILE. tex inherited dinoco from his parents when they passed on, and when the racer that had races under the sponsor previously retired, tex almost immediately sponsored strip. it wasnt just a “best friend” sponsorship though, they both thought long and hard about it and had negotiations because tex just inherited a Huge part of the sport and they needed a good racer to back them up — so he hired strip, because that man could race with his eyes closed. strip won every one of his piston cups under dinoco.

he is BLONDE. he had a sister too (cal’s mom), most people mistook them for twins because of how similar they looked, both blonde, both with a similar birthmark on their face, and the fact that they were only one year apart didnt help. they were best friends. strip was the best man at his sisters wedding, and she was the maid of honour at his.

——

hi it's roe. you pulled me out of retirement thanks for the req

——

i dont think strip and lynda ever really wanted kids, strip was off racing a majority of weekends every year and lynda still had the odd gig here and there — they were comfortable in their little married life wirh just one another, but when their nephew Cal was born, strip and lynda were apart of his life from the beginning - and obviously not in the overbearing way, they wanted the ultimate titles of cool aunt and uncle, but in the “we’ll always be here if you need us to care for him, we’re here if you need ANYTHING!!” kind of way too. strip took that kid to races with him, set him up in the pits with a headset and his crew chief, and even let him BE the crew chief for one race when he was 9 (with the guidance of the actual one, of course.)

when cals parents died in a car accident, the same one that left cal deaf, it was probably the worst days of strip and lyndas life. the four of them (five, counting cal i suppose) had been a family Together. they were all super close, and to just lose them both like that was destroying. in their wills, everything went to Them. Including custody of cal. so in one day they lost their best friends and had a new life to care for — a very uprooted life, at that.

strip and lynda learned things for cal, like how to help him cope with the loss and trauma he experienced, what to do if he had panic attacks or nightmares, and how to help him adjust to his hearing loss.. and never once did they try to replace his parents. they knew their place in his life would never be the ones of his parents, and they didnt ever think they WOULD be parents, he lost them at the age of 13 when he finally had a proper sense of self and finally knew them, so itd be impossible for those holes to fill. obviously strip and lynda did everything they could to be as close to parental as possible without crossing the line, because the typical aunt and uncle roles felt too distant for the situation. obviously cal lashed out because he felt scared and alone, and they refused to take any of it personally because they knew it wasnt something personal.

strip inherited the farm when his father passed away, the north carolina farm that they grew up in, so he has Acres of land and a huge shop/garage where he keeps all his classic cars and old racecars. they have horses and a forest on their property, and when cal was 14 strip taught him how to drive using the track he’d plowed in one of the fields for practice. cal entered his first “race” when he was 15 1/2, and raced for small leagues until he was 19, when strip retired and cal took his place on team dinoco. strip then replaced his own crew chief and became cal’s.

strip and doc definitely hang out at the tracks all the time, they bond over their surrogate “children” being goofy as hell and even talk about their own racing highlights. strip still cannot believe lightning managed to get THE fabulous hudson, the racer his own father told him all about, who strip had dreamed about meeting as a child until he realized it might be a high possibility the man had died, to ADOPT HIM. absolutely insane behaviour on lightnings part.

I HOPE THIS IS ENOUGH!! i have more but a magician cannot share all his secrets.. or magic tricks.. or however the saying goes..

[seigeocs]

Finn Aldwir

Name: Finn Aldwir, formerly Lavellan

Age: 25

Faction: Veil Jumpers

Class: Rogue

Specialization: Veil Ranger

Weapon: Bow More Screenshots: Regular, Bellara and Finn, and more

Quirks: Finn is desperate to get out from the shadow of his mother.  He changed his name, dyed his hair, and refused to take any vallaslin.  He likes to play a guitar in his downtime and knows all of the songs Maryden taught him at Skyhold.  He picked up a few more traveling with the Veil Jumpers.  He is not happy when Varric contacts him in Arlathan Forest to find Solas.  He is double unhappy when he realizes he is now stuck with Solas.

Relationships with others:

Inquisitor Lavellan: That is his mother.  They have a complicated relationship because even after everything Solas did, his mother refused to kill Solas.  She wanted to make him see reason and Finn couldn’t understand why she didn’t want to stop Solas.  As soon as he turned eighteen he left.  He’s got lots of complicated feelings surrounding his mother.

Solas: Finn never lets a day go by that he doesn’t let Solas feel his ire.  At first Solas didn’t recognize him, it had been so long and Finn was no longer that teenage boy desperate for approval.  Once Solas realized who he was their relationship was icy at best.  Finn wanted to stop Solas, but he was also so angry at Solas for hurting his mother.  No matter how mad he was at Roisin, he knew she did not deserve what Solas had done to her.  Maybe they’ll finally get along, maybe not.  They come to a mutual understanding eventually that they need to work together to save the world. Finn never quite forgives the betrayals from Solas in the end.

Varric Tethras: Finn respects the dwarf but repeatedly tells him that he needs to retire.  Roisin can handle looking for Solas but he gets ignored.  Finn thinks of him as the uncle that will spring you from mom’s punishment.  So he has a good relationship with Varric. It devastates him when he learns the truth of what happens to Varric.

Bellara: He's in love with this woman. Absolutely, head over heels, fool in love with her. He's skittish because he's got some issues with abandonment, but he'll pull through for her. Finn regrets keeping his family a secret from her when she finally figures out who his mother is. They overcome it and grow together.

Emmrich: Finn honestly does not get necromancy, but he respects the hell out of Emmrich. To get to his level requires dedication and patience, of which Finn lacks a heap of. He's still a little formal around Emmrich, but does like the man.

Lucanis: Finn and Lucanis get along splendidly, as do Finn and Spite. They found common ground and a love of coffee (something Finn picked up while at Skyhold). He makes sure Lucanis gets whatever coffee and groceries he needs.

Neve: Finn and Neve get along splendidly. He earns her trust back after the major decision early in the game. It takes him a bit, but he manages to show her that he really is there for his friends. That she can count on him.

Taash: Finn and Taash are two peas in a pod when it comes to causing trouble. They are always there for Finn and Finn returns the favor. Especially when Taash is figuring out what they want from themselves. They have a cheerleader in Finn.

Davrin: They disagree on how to face the world a bit, but they have a good relationship. Though Davrin chastises Finn for spoiling Assan a little too much. They carve wood together but whereas Davrin carves monsters, Finn likes to carve animals.

Harding: Harding was so surprised when Finn revealed who he was, and she did remember him once he said his former last name. They get along just as well as they did back in Inquisition. They both share a love of greenery and Finn makes sure that Harding has all she needs with it. He looks to her like an older sister, just like back then.

[mako-designated-driver]

If you won't get the chance to read the comics but still wants to know what happened, I got you. A ton of bullet points of dubious quality coming right up (I also summed issue 3 if you missed it too)

Dragon Age: The Missing #4 Spoilers ahead

Our dashing duo of rogues, Varric and Harding, arrive at Minrathous. They start arguing almost immediately, as Harding claims that they lost too much time hunting the Venatori assassin and should be focusing on Solas, while Varric believes that there is a connection between the two that shouldn't be ignored.

Harding counters that it is one more reason to focus on Solas and that they don't even have a plan to deal with him when they find him. Varric says that he is going to talk to Solas and Harding answers that talking may not be enough. She then concludes that they need help.

If you guys remember issue 1, that's a bit strange, since Harding says Varric were "his friend" and "could talk to him. Make him understand". Furthermore, in a flash back, Varric says to Charter that bringing Harding is a "terrible idea" because she "sees the best in people, and Solas can use that to manipulate her, get her to hesitate". The roles they played in the first issue were reversed in this one, but I'm not sure if this was intentional (in fact, I'd bet it wasn't)

Varric smiled and replies that he knows a woman in Minrathous. If you are thinking about his awesome, stylish and powerful magister cousin Maevaris Tilani... guess again, because Varric asks for the help of the private investigator Neve Gallus (sorry Neve, love u too)

They meet at a tavern. After some banter between the two, Neve says she is tired of hearing Solas name and says that he attacked some Venatori, stole artifacts from them and freed a group of elven slaves while he was at it (that's our egg)

In addition, those elves are now causing trouble in the city, presumably in the name of the one who freed them. Neve asks if they are sure if they wanna be mixed up in all of that, and Harding replies that the trouble in Minrathous is just the beginning. Varric, however, doesn't agree with her and points out that they don't know that yet.

They argue again. Harding says that Solas clearly doesn't want to be found and Varric should prepare himself because the only way to stop Solas may be with an arrow.

Varric answers that the Venatori only got what was coming for them and that he "will knock some sense on the fool" when he sees him. Before Harding can say anything else, he asks Neve if she has any leads.

She does. As they walk towards the hiding place of some escaped slaves, she talks about the Shadow Dragons, a group that works with her and has been helping fred slaves. They may be working for Solas, but that just mean that they will be one step closer to him.

Varric spots their Venatori "friend", but they don't try to follow him this time

Neve shows where some of the slaves are coming to find food and, fortunately, two happened to be there at the time. They got startled when they say two armed (probably three) strangers aproaching and ran. Harding did some cool stuff with her bow to stop one of them from running, but the other vanished.

Varric offers the remaining guy (an elf btw) coin for answering his questions. He accepts and say that Solas freed them, but he doesn't work for him. He also says that Solas helped more than anyone else, and that he is leaving Minrathous via the canals.

The elf says: "He saw what they had done to us – his kin". However, by the time Trespasser ends, Solas doesn't think of modern elves as his kin. His views may have changed or, more likely, it's just this guys interpretation, doesn't need to be true

He finishes by saying that if Neve actually want to help the slaves, there is going to be a meeting by the docks that night so they can figure out what to do next. Neve replies that she heard about a big Venatori operation was going to happen by the docks that night.

Varric and Harding realize that it's all linked: Solas annoyed the Venatori, so they started following the rogues in an attempt to track him. Since they overheard the tavern meeting with Neve, they think that the slaves are Solas agents and are going to come for them at the docks. Neve says to the elf that they should call off the meeting, but he replies that there is no time.

Varric and Harding decide to protect the slaves, if it means losing Solas trail.

At the meeting, there is a woman saying that the Shadow Dragons offered them a chance to "restore their dignity", "get back the lives stolen by the Venatori", and make sure they don't have to scrabble in the dirt for food and warmth. She thinks they should take that chance, but never gets to finish her speech, as the Venatori arrive.

The Venatori leader taunts and tell his goons to take some of the people alive for questioning, but Varric and Harding swoop in and kill two of his guys.

The slaves were armed, Neve shows up with even more guys and a fight breaks out. The Venatori assassin that was following Varric and Harding is killed by the elf from earlier and can't be questioned.

Talking about Harding and Varric, they agree that they did the right thing, even if Solas is now long gone. After they leave, Harding starts wondering if Solas freed those slaves in an attempt to delay the two, as he knew they wouldn't resist helping. Varric agrees that they were tricked because Solas knows them too well, and says...

"Maybe it's time we brought in some fresh help. Someone Solas doesn't know. Someone he won't see coming."

The end!

[hard-for-harding]

This. As someone whos romancing both characters (switching every playthrough, im on PT 6)

This feels like one of those moments from some of these sappy old ass straight af Harlequin novels that my mum would read 20yrs ago that has a woman whos forced to marry a man that she doesnt love but also doesnt hate while her true love is out there and watching them together. Thats how it feels when Harding says "Rook is a lucky person" as well, or Taash just tells Harding "lmk if Rook doesnt treat you well". Like we are the 3rd wheel. Literally they have more content and flirting (also sexual themed inside jokes/banter) than you have with any of them as Rook.

If anyone's curious about the Neve x Lucanis thing at the end, thats fuck all compared to this - this is aclassic lesbian U-hauling trope" that you marry after 2 weeks and move in after the 3rd date.

I won't stop liking them together but I will never understand how we have this apparently side-romance while theres nothing like this ingame with your Rook? Honestly feels like both Taash and Harding are two different ppl when they end up together and when you get with one of them as Rook.

On an absolute side note can someone pls explain it to me how Harding's new magic prevents Rook from even touching pinkies together with her until end of game but that never comes up as an issue with Taash?

so regarding this post, i found the line in the game and i wish i hadn't. what do you mean Taash tells Harding they love her while they never say that to Rook???

honestly i'm so pissed. i've been complaining about how poorly bioware handled the companion romances and how much more 'romantic' they feel compared to Rook's relationships. but this? like i get it, they're not so open when it comes to talking about their feelings and i have zero problem with them not being ready to say it to Rook yet, but then they just say it to Lace?

[whitecrownsblackthrones-archived]

Me: I need more male muses

This newest banch of muses: We got you homie

(Faceclaim - Duke Crytear from The Princess’ Jewelry Box)

Igor Carlon Nevee: Sole son of the Viscount & Viscountess Nevee in the Hot Spring Mountains. As the unquestioned heir to the Nevee estate & title, & a stunningly handsome man, Igor has had everything he’s ever wanted in life placed in his hands; everything expect for true love. While he is stubborn, arrogant & willing to pass threats without much thought, he is also incredibly nervous & shy around women, especially adorable ones. While most women in Camellia see Igor as a shy, compassionate & cute man, most Camellian men see him as a cold, calculating & venomous snake.

(Faceclaim - Jade Meldea from The Princess’ Jewelry Box)

Elliot Seymour: Second son of Viscount & Viscountess Seymour of Xu Yong, spare heir to the Seymour estate & title. Despite being the spare heir & still a young man, most of work meant to be done by his father & older brother is passed onto him & completed by him. As a hard working & brilliant youth, he is used to keep the Seymour name afloat. It is generally agreed on by the most of the Camellian court, that without Elliot, the Seymour Family would most likely crumble & become a fallen noble family. It is also for the reasons of always being used by his family, that he has a tough time trusting others & getting close to anyone.

(Faceclaim - Percival Fredrickstein von Musel Klossowski de Rolo III from Critical Role’s The Legend of Vox Machina)

Nathaniel Arlington Knightborne: Third & final son of Marquess Charles Knightborne & the first Marchioness Mary Knightborne. After the divorce of his father & mother at a young age, Nathan reminded with his father & two other older brothers in the Knightborne estate, however, he became very distant to his family after his father’s marriage to the the woman who would become the second Marchioness of the Knightbornes, Olivia, & the resulting two daughters she would give birth to later. As the third & final son of a Marquess in Kyren, he was expected to become a knight, even more so then his younger half-sisters, & while he did complete his 2 years of mandatory military training without any issues, he decided that instead of just being a knight, he wanted to create the weapons that the knights used on the daily. So, with the funds he saved up over the years that he received as an allowance from his father, he opened his own blacksmithing & crafting shop called ‘Arlington’s’ in Westport & is an insanely successful man. Able to live on his own in a small manor, away from the family he is still so distant with even today. Nathan is a kind & caring sort, who believes in the value of hard work, but also has a tendence to get a little hot-headed in tense situations.

[verobatto]

Destiel Chronicles

Vol. CXII

It was a love story from the very beginning.

The Righteous Father

(14x05/15x06)

Hello my beloveds! Another meta from Healing!Dean season 14. This is a summary from my original metas from season 14, so I hope I can convey all the concepts for you.

I will talk mostly about Dean's daddy issues and how he will be able to break free about it as he accepts his love for Castiel.

You can check the metas from these two episode following these links: X, X, X, X, X.

Sharing Daddy Issues

"And this episode Logic Nightmares, was about fears... Did you see the woman trying to open the basement door... Darker than night, to see what was in there... In that dark and tenebrous place, and then she was scared him by that "vampire"? And she fell of fear... Well very symbolic bc... imagine Dean trying to open his most darkest room... His lost repressed feeling... But when he tries... He's attacked by his own fears... And he fails Everytime..."

I wrote this in one of my metas. That episode had Dean Winchester saying "Let it go... Like Elsa." It's related to MOVE ON. A topic that will be explored in season 15 with Dean and Castiel after their break up.

'Logic Nightmares' was about fears but also about daddy issues.

The fact that Sasha went to a dark room and found a monster hidden there, is a foreshadow for AUMichael hidden inside of Dean after 14x10 and also, AUMichael spying them though Dean Winchester's eyes. (That's why the reaction of the d'jin in this episode.)

The dialogue between Sasha and Dean in which Sasha were mirroring Dean was very meaningful:

SASHA: My dad wasn't the best person. He was gone all the time working. For us, he said (...)

DEAN: I'm sorry.

SASHA: Mm. That's what everyone says. Except him. Never said it. You want to know what the most ridiculous part is? I worshipped him when I was a kid.

This is Dean talking my friends from the very beginning. His view about hai dad, a man that tried to do his best, but even so, filled with trauma to his son's. And deep inside he was waiting for an apology from John.

And also...

Gif set credit @itsokaysammy

Dean's baggage is full of GUILT, REGRETS and TRAUMA. And the only one person we saw getting inside that baggage/backpack was Castiel in episode 13x20.

Also, the topic of MOVE ON, will be explored in season 15 after Dean and Castiel's break up.

This episode was full of recalling to John Winchester. It worked as a foreshadow of his next appearence in episode 14x13. The episode in which Sam and Dean will be able to forgive their father and heal.

We saw statues of Saint Mary and Saint Joseph in the crypt representing Mary and John Winchester.

And a blatant John Winchester mirror in Bobby...

Okay, let's jump now to episode 14x06... And how it was foreshadowing Dean's choice in episode 14x13.

Dean will choose Castiel

Harper was a Dean mirror, not just because the whole visual elements you can find in the colors of her outfits (she starts wearing red: toxic Dean and ends up wearing green: healing!Dean). But because her relationship with the place where she lived and her toxic bond with the zombie boyfriend.

I realized this episode had a lot of fables references on the wall. That's because we are seeing Dean learning the lesson of his life. Episode 14x04 was about fighting against fears and 14x05 about daddy issues. This episode is about making the right decision and choose your true love.

This was very important to understand episode 14x13 in which Dean decides between his Father, his past and his present family and Castiel. Of course he picked up Cas.

But, then the monster/toxic masculinity boyfriend came back...

"Once in the library what happened was symbolic too, bc Harper OPENED THE DOOR TO HIS TOXIC PAST AND THIS ZOMBIE GAVE HER THE BOOK AGAIN! I MEAN!! This is Dean coming back all over again to this big issue, embracing him, not letting go. This toxic idea of what a man should be, this toxic idea about NOT TALKING OF THE L WORD AND NOT FEELING IT FOR A MAN!"

Another important book was this one...

That book talking about laces (bond, profound Bond) and lances (Dean stabbing Castiel in the barn, love at first stab).

The symbolism here is huge and talks about Dean's inner fight.

From this episode I elqboretaed what I thought was THE MOVES and THE TALK. Because Jack was the innocent one here trying to understand about love.

The moves were related with Dean and CAS being glued and the talk is the one we were waiting for, it came as Dean's prayer in Purgatory 2.0 and Castiel's love confession (as a response to that prayer) in episode 15x18.

First of all, remember the place where Dean and Jack arrived for info. There was full of cocks (second meaning). Also two cocks facing each other to both side of Dean's head (AUMichael against Castiel fighting for Dean 🤣).

And do you remember that funny dialogue between the waitress and Dean and Jack.

JACK - What's courting?

DEAN - Hey, it's what you do before you start dating.

JACK - and that's the thing you do before the sex. (Dean and waitress both look at him oddly)

WAITRESS - Sometimes you just have the sex. (and grins)

DEAN - Okay, that's...Who is Harper Sayles?

That's very cute from Dean and Jack. Because both of them are innocent. Innocent love. Because Dean is not the man that hooks up with any waitress anymore. He even turned away the Cock's tail. Like he rejecting the idea. He is so in love with CAS. Jack and Dean's talk will continue when Jack asks him about Harper being in love with the nougat boy, and googly eyes. (Related to Dean and Cas almost continued eye fucking.) And then the last scene....

Gif credit @mishalocked

This scene was a blatant DEAN IS TALKING ABOUT CAS. DEAN SPEAKS WITH AUTHORITY ABOUT LOVE AND HE EVEN USES THE L WORD HERE. Dean is accepting his romantic love for the angel.

Harper's room was showing a little of Dean's innocent idea about love too. With all the stuffed animals in his room and the big green word AMORE live in Italian.

Another important foreshadow was Harper (this time dressed in green) writing a live letter to Jack, his true love while a love song was playing.

In retrospective, even when I. The letter Harper was chosing Jack over her toxicity, the song playing was a foreshadow of 15x18. I wrote this...

Sobbing, I think I was right...

To Conclude:

These two episode talked about daddy issues and Dean's inner fight that will end with Dean chosing Castiel and his present life against his toxicity and past.

It was full of foreshafows from season 15.

I hope you liked this summaries. If you wanna read more about these two episodes, please check the links at the beginning of this meta.

Tagging @magnificent-winged-beast @emblue-sparks @weirddorkylittlediana @michyribeiro @whyjm @legendary-destiel @a-bit-of-influence @thatwitchydestielfan @misha-moose-dean-burger-lover @lykanyouko @evvvissticante @savannadarkbaby @dea-stiel @poorreputation @bre95611 @thewolfathedoor @charlottemanchmal @neii3n @deathswaywardson @followyourenergy @dean-is-bi-till-i-die @hekatelilith-blog @avidbkwrm @anarchiana @dickpuncher365 @vampyrosa @authorsararayne @mybonsai1976 @love-neve-dies @dustythewind @wayward-winchester67 @angelwithashotgunandtrenchcoat @trashblackrainbow @deeutdutdutdoh @destiel-shipper-11 @larrem88 @charmedbycastiel @ran-savant @little-crazy-misha-minion @samoosetheshipper

@shadows-and-padlocked-hearts @mishtho @dancingtuesdaymorning @nerditoutwithbooks @mikennacac73 @justmeand-myinsight @idontwantpeopletoknowmyname @teddybeardoctor @pepevons @helevetica @dizzypinwheel @horsez2 @qanelyytha

@destielle @spnsmile @shippsblog @robot-feels @superlock-in-the-tardis @superduckbatrebel @belacoded @madronasky @anon-non2 @cea1996 @lisafu02 @asphodelesauvage @deancasgirl777

If you wanna be added or removed from this list just let me know.

If you wanna read the previous metas from season 14 here you have the links...

Vol. CIX, CX, CXI.

Buenos Aires, May 9th 2021 2:46 PM

[ofriparian]

AURORA “RORY” ADELE VALENTINA PETRELLI chase one of seven sins seven miles down the coast? Originally from FLORIDA KEYS, FLORIDA, the TWENTY-FIVE YEAR OLD CIS-FEMALE is a BARTENDER AT THE LUCKY ICARUS and has lived in the Key for ALL OF HER LIFE. SHE is suppose to call BAHAMA VILLAGE home, but there is always temptation lurking between the streets and the ocean that keeps HER from heading back. Sinners and saints take many forms, but they look like ZOEY DEUTCH and on their way to make decisions, good and bad, they always seem to sway to the beat of THEREFORE I AM BY BILLIE EILISH. 

tw: DRUGS, DEATH, DRUG OVERDOSE 

                                                ✴   ✴   ✴   ✴   ✴   ✴    ✴   ✴   ✴

full name:  aurora adele valentina petrelli. 

nicknames:  rory, ro. 

age:  25 

date of birth: december 26th

zodiac: capricorn 

gender:  female

pronouns: she/her 

extra

sexuality:  bisexual. 

occupation: bartender at the lucky icarus. 

hobbies: doing drugs, singing, playing piano and guitar, cooking, exploring. 

physical

hair color:  blondish brown. 

eye color: brown.

height: 5′2″

weight:  110 lbs

family

parents: angelina and anthony ��big ton” petrelli. 

siblings: cyrus petrelli, older brother.        

full biography ~ * : 

aurora adele valentina petrelli came into the world screaming the day after christmas and for that, her mother always boasted that her little baby girl was a holy baby. despite her angelic look and her pretty little brown eyes, aurora was anything but angelic. she was a colicky, squirmy, crying baby that never seemed satisfied, and would cry at the very drop of a hat. she didn’t sleep well and angelina and anthony petrelli seemed to have their work cut out for them with their only little girl. the only time that aurora would cease crying at times would be when her big brother, cyrus, would hold her in his arms and rock her, sing to her, and for that moment when her big brown eyes looked into his dark eyes - it was all over. aurora had found her favorite person in the entire world and that was her older brother. since then, aurora remained close to her big brother and growing up in a big italian family all from long island, there would be many holidays where they would get in the car and drive down there or their big family would come up to the keys for vacation. the petrelli’s were never a wealthy family, but a comfortable family, a family that was loud, italian and proud of it, yelling about what kind of sauce was better, whose ziti was better and most of all, where a lot of love, craziness and happiness came from. aurora spent her time playing around with her older big cousins, getting her communion dress dirty, playing baseball, manhunt, hide and seek - doing whatever her big brother was doing and than so. she wanted so much to be one of the boys growing up, and for the most part, she kept up with them well. it was one thing though that set rory apart from everyone else in her family - her love for music. 

music was one of the only things that kept aurora out of trouble growing up. her piano and singing lessons always came first for her and she always excelled wildly. she starred in school plays, musicials, even a few stints on broadway and while it was a lot of pressure for her, she did so well and she loved it so much. it kept her disciplined and angelina and anthony were just glad that aurora had found such an interest in theater and music. throughout her adolescence, she stayed focused on music, wanting someone to go to a big brand name college and study theater and music, but things got in the way. it was a lot of pressure, to be on the big stage and have to do her schoolwork all by a certain time. rory put a lot of pressure on herself and she could remember the first time rocko martinelli entered her life. it was like love at first sight, or chaos meets fire. rockford “rocko” martinelli was a new kid from the wrong side of the tracks, a sophomore while rory was a freshman and he was older, bigger, and badder. he set his sights into rory and together, chaos ensued. 

first, it was just regular partying, some teenage fun and rory’s grades, average as they were, stayed the same. it wasn’t until rory talked to rocko one night at a party about the pressure she felt, to be like her brother, the smart, charismatic one, and rory always struggled comparing herself to others, despite her charm and wit. rocko knew exactly what buttons to press and knew how to dig his fingers into her. they dated, for such a long time, and their relationship was toxic, to say the least. they would fight, get high, forget all about it and before rory knew it, she was under a spell and most importantly, addicted to some pretty hardcore drugs herself. she was barely able to keep it through a day without snorting a line, injecting some heroine into her veins, or weed - it was what she loved to do with rocko. he had convinced her that she had needed no one else besides him and his drugs. 

all of this happened right up until senior year of high school, when rory was set up to go on a prestigious audition for uc berkeley’s music program. all was fine and good, but with her neves being so bad, rocko suggested she snort some cocaine, and funnily enough, she was too high to concentrate and her nose started bleeding onto the sheet of music she had. with that failed audition, aurora basically went into a downward spiral. she just barely graduated high school and moved in with rocko, and her parents were destroyed and distraught. the only person who could still get through to her was her older brother and sometimes even he couldn’t. she loved her drugs, loved her toxic relationship with rocko and for four years, the two of the did drugs, stopped, got clean together, but would fall off the wagon together too. 

it wasn’t until about six months ago, rory being fully a twenty five year old woman now, that she and rocko were still dating, on and off as always and they had fought, like they always did and then smoothed it out with some heroine. aurora fell asleep, but when she woke up, there rocko was, passed out - dead. panicked and horrified, rory had no one else to call but her big brother and when he came to her rescue, she was dissolved into tears and horror. since then, rory got her ass into rehab, basically with her brother dragging her there, and she’s been on and off with her drug use since. right now, she’s just doing weed and some coke here and there, off the heroine, but it’s only a matter of time before things dissolve again. she has yet to really face herself and face her real issues and that’s where we leave her. 

[tabloidtoc]

Globe, January 4

You can buy a copy of this issue for your very own at my eBay store: https://www.ebay.com/str/bradentonbooks

Cover: Ghislaine Maxwell buying her way out of prison

Page 2: Up Front & Personal -- Gavin Rossdale playing tennis with his pup Chewy, Brooke Burke holding holiday balls topless, James Franco takes his cellphone into the sea 

Page 3: Leighton Meester surfing in Malibu, Robbie Williams, Lisa Rinna wearing two masks 

Page 4: Angelina Jolie is bracing for major humiliation after being dragged into Johnny Depp’s latest legal showdown with ex-wife Amber Heard -- Angie’s run-ins with Johnny who she starred with in 2010′s The Tourist are coming under intense scrutiny as Depp gears for a second court battle with Amber -- Angie and Johnny were so coy about their white-hot connection at the time even though their romance was an open secret but they got lucky because nobody had the smoking gun to prove it but now it’ll all come out in the open -- at the time Johnny was still dating Vanessa Paradis while Angie was five years into her doomed love-in with Brad Pitt -- there’s talk bisexual Amber was kind of obsessed with Angie so Angie is central to the plotline whether she likes it or not

Page 5: The Bachelor host Chris Harrison is worried he’ll follow Dancing with the Stars host Tom Bergeron out the door -- both these shows have been on TV forever and the world has changed around them and to keep up with Black Lives Matter and the #MeToo movement changes are being discussed and that’s left Chris fearing he’ll be the next Tom Bergeron and replaced by a woman of color 

Page 6: Aging divas Loretta Lynn and Dolly Parton are caught in a bitter country catfight and long-dead Patsy Cline is the excuse -- although there’s been little love lost between the Nashville icons for nearly 50 years their simmering feud exploded weeks ago when Dolly apparently took some veiled public shots at Loretta’s BFF Patsy who was horribly disfigured in a car wreck two years before dying in a 1963 plane crash -- in an interview Dolly recalled standing in the wings of Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry at age 13 and watching Patsy perform and she remembered thinking about how awful it was that she got her pretty face scarred up like that -- Loretta was fit to be tied over the comments Dolly made about her old pal and thinks Dolly should stop running her mouth about Nashville legends like Patsy and Johnny Cash -- Dolly’s heard about Loretta’s complaints through the grapevine and brushes them off as quarantine boredom mixed with old age 

Page 8: Blake Shelton’s going bonkers after fiancee Gwen Stefani told him she wants to skip the mega-million star-studded wedding shindig he’s been planning and elope -- Blake is all bent out of shape over Gwen’s latest switcheroo which calls for them to get hitched on the sly at a Mexican resort and she’s got him so mixed up he can’t think straight because for the longest time she wanted the Hollywood-style wedding with all the bells and whistles and was very particular about details but now she’s telling him to ditch those plans which have already cost them a small fortune and book a trip somewhere exotic so they can just just get it over with -- Gwen wants to elope so they can hitched at the Riviera Maya resort in Cancun where they could swap vows on the beach witnessed by her three sons and Blake has no choice but to give in to Gwen and he’s saying he’s fine with it as long as she’s sure this time 

Page 9: Hollywood horndog John Mayer is back sniffing around old flame Jennifer Aniston after his mom gave him a shove -- John and Jen had a steamy fling for about a year before he dropped her in 2009 and now John’s mom Margaret Meyer is scolding him for letting Jen go and John’s mom is always on him about settling down and she feels that at 43 he should be married and she recently had a heart-to-heart talk with him and told him she thought Jennifer was the most down-to-earth of all his exes and because John considers his mom one of the smartest people he knows he decided to reach out to Jen and he’s always admired Jen and thought of her as a classy lady and now he’s reaching out to her again in hopes of getting her to agree to see him again once things leave lockdown 

* FKA Twigs has socked actor Shia LaBeouf with a bombshell lawsuit claiming he subjected her to relentless physical, emotional and mental abuse and gave her an STD and she also accuses him of sexual battery, assault, and infliction of emotional distress -- although Shia says she’s lying Twigs insists Shia once choked her in the middle of the night and kept a loaded firearm by the bed leaving her terrified to get up at night for fear he’d think she was an intruder and shoot her -- she claims during an incident around Valentine’s Day 2019 Shia threatened to crash his speeding car unless she professed her love for him so when he pulled into a gas station she got out of the car but he threw her against the car while screaming in her face then forced her back into the car -- Shia also had rules about how often Twigs had to kiss and touch him -- Shia has been arrested several times on now-dismissed charges including assault and disorderly conduct 

Page 10: John Lennon didn’t have to die -- that’s law enforcement experts’ explosive analysis after reviewing newly discovered evidence about the Beatles legend’s December 8, 1980 murder in NYC -- an odd series of coincidences and simple decisions put Lennon and his killer Mark David Chapman in the same place at the same time -- a review of the details concludes Lennon’s death was a strange result of flukes including his penchant for running around without protection and a missed appointment with his photographer and without these quirks of fate John would still be alive and recording hit songs 

Page 12: Celebrity Buzz -- Pink flashes her bandaged thumb after getting stitches in Santa Monica (picture), Amanda Seyfried confesses she made a terrible decision for turning down the role of a lifetime as Chris Pratt’s love interest in Guardians of the Galaxy and now she’s watching from the sidelines as the director’s second choice Zoe Saldana skyrockets in the money-making Marvel franchise, Katherine Heigl will star in the upcoming limited biopic series Woodhull about Victoria Woodhull the first woman to run for president in 1872, Big Brother alum Zach Rance has come out as bisexual after admitting a sizzling same-sex romance with his former reality show housemate Frankie Grande who is the real-life older brother of pop star Ariana Grande

Page 13: Jaime King slurps down a meal on the streets on L.A. (picture), Jax Taylor mowing the lawn (picture), Guns N’ Roses axman Slash loads up on supplies at an L.A. grocery (picture), former teen heartthrob Chad Michael Murray admits his inflated young ego got the best of him and now he looks at photos of himself and thinks what a dweeb

Page 14: Julia Roberts is headed for the small screen headlining the limited TV series The Last Thing He Told Me where she’ll form an unexpected relationship with her teenage stepdaughter while searching for the truth about her husband’s mysterious disappearance, Emma Stone is also heading for the flat-screen in the comedy series The Curse alongside Nathan Fielder about a couple starring on an HGTV-style show who are trying to conceive a child amid an alleged curse, Nicolas Cage is hosting a new series called The History of Swear Words in which he’ll delve into the origins and pop culture usage and science and cultural impact of profanely shocking expletives

* Fashion Police -- Peyton List 8/10, Sofia Carson 9/10, Vanessa Hudgens 2/10, Neve Campbell 1/10, Chelsea Handler 4/10 

Page 16: Cover Story -- Jeffrey Epstein’s madam Ghislaine Maxwell’s $30M jail break -- terrified and tortured Ghislaine risks family fortune to buy her freedom -- the accused sex predator and her fat cat inner circle are set to plunk down an obscene $30 million to buy her way out of federal prison in what outraged investigators fear is a brazen plot to cheat justice 

Page 19: 10 Things You Don’t Know About Mayim Bialik

* Lizzo is admitting she’s having negative thoughts and is hating her 300-pound body but adds she knows she beautiful

* The Spice Girls were likely liquored up on cut-rate champagne when they made their first album according to Emma Bunton a.k.a. Baby Spice who says she and her bandmates swilled the cheapest sparkling wine in the studio 

Page 20: True Crime -- a chilling message left by the elusive Zodiac Killer has finally been cracked by a team of code breakers after 51 years -- a hodgepodge of numbers, symbols and letters called the 340 cipher was sent to the San Francisco Chronicle in 1969 and lawmen believed it contained key clues to the serial killer’s identity but the truth is even more chilling -- according to the experts the message says I hope you are having lots of fun in trying to catch me, I am not afraid of the gas chamber because it will send me to paradise all the sooner because I now have enough slaves to work for me 

Page 21: Caitlyn Jenner is terrified after learning her skin cancer has returned a second time -- she was diagnosed with basal cell skin cancer a few years ago and had an entire layer of skin removed from her nose -- since then she’s been slathering on sunscreen but a new red spot on the right side of her nose popped up along with some crusty areas on her scalp but the nose patch was not cancer but hypertrophic keratosis or scaly damage from sun exposure -- however the dozen spots on the top of her head was squamous cell carcinoma which is a skin cancer that’s known to be aggressive so her doctor burned off the offending spots -- her doctor recommended she replace her 1960 Austin-Healey convertible but the chances of Caitlyn selling her prized ride are slim 

Page 23: Your 2021 Horoscope -- love, luck, health, wealth, happiness -- plus surprising celebrity predictions -- Elton John, Valerie Bertinelli, Johnny Depp, Jessica Simpson, Matthew Perry, Cameron Diaz, Will Smith, Katy Perry, Howie Mandel, Savannah Guthrie, Justin Timberlake, Carrie Underwood 

Page 30: Larry King has reached a deal with estranged wife Shawn but she’s royally peeved about the payoff -- Larry has agreed to pay her a lump sum of $20,000 plus $33,000 a month in spousal support which lasts until at least their next scheduled hearing in April but Shawn claims the 33Gs only covers a third of her monthly nut which includes $25,000 for rent on her home, $12,000 on clothes, $3500 on groceries and $4500 for hair and nails and pet care and gym 

Page 31: Kim Kardashian is reading husband Kanye West the riot act over his junk food benders that are sabotaging her healthy eating program and it’s led to more than a few arguments with no peace in sight -- he’s telling her to chill and let him live by his own terms but she can’t do that because it’s driving her crazy -- what really ticks Kim off is his junk food has totally taken over her section of fresh cut veggies, fruits and water and she wants him to get his own storage in a different part of the house where she won’t have to see it or hold her nose 

* Kardashian momager Kris Jenner’s faux reality TV home is on the market for nearly $8 million even though she never lived there -- the L.A. estate was used for exterior shots of the image-conscious family’s compound on Keeping Up with the Kardashians but it was all for show -- dubbed the Iredell Estate the house also appears in True Blood and Chelsea Lately 

Page 33: Health Report 

Page 34: Wrestling Ring Kings: Where Are They Now? Sable, Bret Hart

Page 35: Lex Luger, Steve Austin, Ric Flair 

Page 36: The Undertaker, Tito Santana, Diamond Dallas Page 

Page 37: Kane, Kurt Angle, Sunny, Mick Foley 

Page 39: Despite an astounding 30 No. 1 country music hits legendary singer Charley Pride took a haunting regret to his grave that he never made it as major league baseball star -- Charley had so much success but he died tormented his baseball career short-circuited -- Charley was singing and playing guitar by the time he was 14 but his real goal was to pitch for the New York Yankees -- Charley signed with a Yankees farm team as a flame-throwing phenom at 17 but in his rookie season he threw out his arm and was just never the same -- after he struck out in baseball he put his full energy into singing but faced an uphill battle -- Charley was the Jackie Robinson of country music and he endured a lot of racism 

Page 40: Kelsey Grammer admits he often breaks down and blubbers like a baby and it makes him feel better and he cries when he’s upset or sad or scared and it provides him a lot of relief and he believes years of tragedy in his life taught him to cry as a healing mechanism and now he sheds tears whenever he has sad feeling bottled up inside him 

* A moneybags James Bond fan coughed up a whopping $256,000 for the handgun 007 Sean Connery toted in the first spy epic Dr. No -- the disabled Walther PP semi-automatic was supposed to bring in no more than $200,000 but the unidentified American buyer who claims to have seen every Bond epic went even higher 

Page 44: Straight Talk -- Miley Cyrus is now blabbing about why she broke up with husband Liam Hemsworth after years of togetherness and just nine months of marriage and it sounds like a case of the pot calling the kettle black 

Page 45: Furious Queen Elizabeth has booted Princess Eugenie and her husband out of Prince Harry’s Frogmore Cottage home in a bit to foil Meghan Markle’s plan to completely cut him off from England and the royal family -- pregnant Eugenie and her booze-seller husband Jack Brooksbank were ordered to quit the cottage and move back to Kensington Palace just six weeks after Harry and Meghan secretly leased them the home meaning Harry and Meghan are still on the financial hook for Frogmore which was a gift from the queen and they will have to underwrite the cost of keeping up the property and it also ensures Harry has a home in Britain if he ever wants to come back -- by moving Eugenie and Jack out the queen has made sure Harry still has a place to hang his hat if he decides to come back to leave his American wife 

Page 47: Bizarre But True 

[dawnaress]

  MVP of Horror: Rachel True reflects on her experience as the only Black star of 'The Craft'

Rachel True is the first to tell you that she wasn’t supposed to be in The Craft. When the script for the 1996 Goth horror favorite first made the rounds in Hollywood, there were several obstacles that stood in the way of her joining a cast that included rising stars Fairuza Balk, Neve Campbell and Robin Tunney. “I had to fight to read for it,” True tells Yahoo Entertainment now. “My agents at the time were like, ‘You’re probably too old.’” (Watch our video interview above.)

Not only that, but the role that True auditioned for — Rochelle Zimmerman, one of four teen girls at a Catholic high school who form a Manon-worshipping witch’s coven — was written for a white actress. Undaunted, she relied on “smoke and mirrors” to get into the room and ultimately won the part, setting a new precedent for teen movies in the process. “It’s a big movie in terms of my career, but it’s also a big movie for Black people out there,” she says. “It’s one of the first teen movies that wasn’t a Black teen movie or a white teen movie.”

The obstacles didn’t end after True landed the role. If anything, they intensified during and after production as the actress felt herself being marginalized in favor of her co-stars. True makes it clear that she didn’t experience any overt hostility from the rest of the cast; instead, it was the studio and people behind the camera who seemed intent on holding her back. “When we were shooting the movie, I had literally been told by my team to stay away from Fairuza,” she remembers. “[They said] she can get away with stuff, and you will get fired for it. I was literally told, ‘You’re Black, so don’t say, ‘F*** you, mommy,’ like the white girls.’”

She also had to fight for equal attention during the film’s publicity tour. “They put up a poster of the four of us, mentioned the three girls and then skipped down the call sheet, I think, ‘This is how Black actors get underpaid, this is how they get forgotten, and it’s part of why I mouthed off about the publicity back in the day that I was excluded from. At the time, I don’t think my castmates understood; they were like, ‘You’re not as famous as us.’ What they didn’t get is that in the early to mid-1990s, [the studios] excluded the Black person, which meant they were never going to be as famous as you because they didn’t get the press.”

True experienced that exclusion as recently as last year, when she took to Twitter to reveal how a fan convention declined to invite her to a planned Craft reunion featuring Balk, Campbell and Tunney. (The actress credits Balk, now a close friend, with tipping her off about being left out.) “I had my guy call them up and say, ‘You could have the first reunion since 1996 with all the ladies, and they were like, ‘No thanks,’” she says. “My thing is that everything in life comes down to money, and if you don’t want the money [from a cast reunion] then as a Black person, what else am I supposed to think?”

After her tweets went viral, the convention reversed course and the full Craft coven reunited in March 2019. “I’m glad I spoke up,” True says. “Hopefully it opens the door for other people, so that when I go to the conventions it's not just me and maybe one other Black person.”

Racism is a subject within The Craft as well. As originally written, Rochelle struggled with bulimia, but the film’s co-writer/director, Andrew Fleming, revamped that storyline after True was cast. In the finished film, the character’s antagonist is Christine Taylor’s Laura Lizzie, a high school mean girl with a special hate-on for Rochelle. “First of all, Christine Taylor is so nice,” True says, laughing. “People come up to me and say, ‘Was she really racist?’ And I’m like, ‘She’s the sweetest woman in the world!’ I had gone to an all-white public school, so it was a great way to exorcise those demons if you will. It wasn't the first time someone called my hair pubic hair — that's the truth. So to have that in the movie was fitting, I think, as far as how people think.”

During filming, True remembers being uncomfortable with the way Fleming used her skin color as a plot point. “I remember thinking, ‘Do they see Blackness as a problem?’ All the characters have issues, and to me being Black wasn’t an issue; the way other people treat me for being Black is the issue. But once I really thought about when I got older, I realized it’s a good thing they have that in there. We’d come out of a time where we had things like The Cosby Show where nobody ever mentioned racism, and here was a movie that tackled it head on. I do think it’s interesting, though, that the other three characters never say anything about it! Not one of them is ever like, ‘That’s too bad that she’s racist towards you.’ I don’t think they would do that today.”

One other story choice that still rankles her a quarter century later is that Rochelle loses her supernatural powers at the end of the movie, while Tunney’s Sarah keeps hers. “Even in the mid-‘90s they knew they couldn’t kill off the Black chick,” she jokes. “But I was like, ‘Rochelle is more powerful than this! She’s an astral bridge, why is she cowering?’ That’s actually how I felt about that scene.”

Those memories are balanced out by the fun that True had making The Craft, whether it was flying around on harnesses or having a plaster mold made of her face for certain special effects sequences. “I loved all that stuff — I love movie magic. It's why I love being an actor because you put on this character and you get to experience life! I knew there was a lot for me to learn; Fairuza gave me a really good tip, because she was more experienced than I was. For the scene where we licked blood off our fingers, I kind of deep-throated my finger and she told me, ‘Rachel, it’s film and it’s a close-up. Just a small lick will do.’ So she might not have been the friendliest when we were shooting, but she was there to make a great movie. And she makes the movie, right? She’s so intense and fabulous in it.”

True shares other stories about the making of The Craft, as well as tales from her eventful life and career, in True Heart Intuitive Tarot, a boxed set that includes a tarot deck and a guidebook that’s part memoir and part tutorial. “It’s helped me with my career in Hollywood, a town full of smoke and mirrors,” True says of her lifelong interest in tarot. “I use tarot as a therapist — like a shrink in a box I like to say — so that I understand what I’m upset about or what’s going on.”

And with the True Heart book and deck, she’s hoping to instruct other people on mastering the art of reading tarot cards. “People hit me up on my DMs, saying, ‘Can I get a reading from you?’ And I’m like, ‘No, you can’t afford me!’” she laughs, adding that she’s mostly retired from doing public and private readings. “The idea with the book is that you can learn it for yourself... and you can heal yourself.”

The Craft is available to stream on Hulu or rent or our purchase on Amazon, iTunes and FandangoNOW. True Heart Intuitive Tarot is available on Amazon.

— Video produced by Jen Kucsak and edited by John Santo

Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:

[mimikoflamemaker]

Witcher OC Ask Meme – Neve

In the spirit of @oxenfurt-archives​ January Theme “Something Ends and Something Begins” and introductory ask meme for Neve. Neve is my disaster child and I love her, however it took me literal years to create her – I was fan of the books before the games came out, but it was the Witcher 3 that finally gave me the ground I could work on comfortably. Let’s see what came out of it.

(ask meme by @mollumaukerie)

1. What is your OC’s name? Do they have a fake moniker or a nom de guerre?

Neve. Which means “snow” and pertains to her being born in the depths of the winter. Her mother never bothered to give her a more meaningful name and just chose the first thing that came to mind. Her father was never there to begin with.

Though later, that name came to correspond quite well with her cold and distrustful nature.

Due to her profession she uses plenty of fake name and back stories, sometimes thinking them up on the spot.

2. How old are they, and where do they fit in terms of current events in the Witcher universe? Have they aged naturally or through magical means?

It would be fair to just say that she isn’t sure as her exact birth date was never recorded. The action of the game takes place in 1272 and she is about a hundred years old at the time, which means she was born anywhere between 1172-1175 so around the same time as Yennefer.

Being told from the very young age that she is a product of crossbreeding and therefore not a full blooded elf, she was at the time, a little surprised by her apparent longevity, but after a while the thought faded into the background. Maybe she was just lucky in taking more after her mother. Maybe her mother never told her the truth about the birth father. It didn’t matter - she was busy with the real issues like surviving in the world that hated her for the way she was born.

Visually, she looks anything between twenty five and thirty five depending on who you ask.

3. Where do they come from? Did they grow up wealthy, well-off, or poor?

Neve comes from Blue Mountains – being born into the scoia’tael commando, meant that she moved a lot as soon as she was capable of following her elders. So she doesn’t really know where exactly she comes from, so when asked she usually says, that she is from Ban Ard – when she is feeling safe and honest enough to tell the thing closest to the truth.

Growing up like that meant no permanent place to live and more often than not, hunger. She was quickly thought to fend for herself, because as much as the children were considered precious by the elves and taken care of to the best of their abilities, Neve never tasted a proper, parental love, so she took the matter in her own hands as soon as she could, trying to at least be useful if she couldn’t be loved.

4. Do they have a family? Are they on good or bad terms with them?

Rhoenna – neve’s mother, she was a hunter and a regular fighter in the commando. She doesn’t know who her father is or where he might be now and she really doesn’t care. Her mother certainly never cared about her going as far as telling the girl that she was unwanted and a mistake. As a child, she did feel hurt by such treatment, but she learned to fend for herself on her own. And years had faded that memories to the point of not caring. Why would she care for people that never bothered to care for her? Besides, her mother was dead. And if her father was a human like she claimed he was most certainly dead as well.

5. What kind of personality do they have? How do they handle strong emotions of anger, grief, fear, etc?

Neve keeps a carefully crafted image of herself that she put up for others and molds depending on her needs. Most often given her line of work, she chooses to show confidence and competence, not shying away from showing of her various skills if necessary. She tends to be brash and a bit arrogant at times – a no-nonsense type of person that seen enough of life and doesn’t have the time of people’s bullshit.

That said, she doesn’t handle emotion well, even if it mostly reflects in her mental state. She has so much insecurities she hides from the world fearing that they might give others a way to exploit her, that any instance of feeling any sort of distress could be the tipping point for her. Therefore she tries her hardest to keep her feelings on the leash. But there are cracks if someone bothers to look.

She would often go with anger if she has to let off some steam. Anger is the easiest to handle. Violence can give her the momentary satisfaction, making her feel powerful. It is also the best way to assert dominance in some cases, especially when you are a woman surrounded by men most of the time.

Anger is probably the only emotion she allows to take over – and an emotion that often serves as the replacement for other things she feels.

6. Do they wear their heart on their sleeve or play their cards close to the chest?

She doesn’t really know the meaning of the word “honesty”. Is that even a thing? Neve chooses what she tells to whom, choosing lies over truth most of the time. She lies to get herself a better job, she lies to wiggle herself into the graces of powerful people and she lies to get herself out of trouble. But she also builds bits and pieces of truth into her lies. And she really knows how to lie – she is capable of making anybody believe her – maybe except for those capable of reading minds.

There is really no way of telling when she lies and when she tells the truth, which makes most people wary of her. And causes some problems, because if she decides to actually be honest for once, more often than not people don’t believe her.

7. What is their moral compass like? Do they abide the law, an organizational creed, or their own moral code?

Neve follows her own moral code, which can seem convoluted to the people around her, because she is just as likely to kick the beggar in the teeth as she is to shower them with money. She herself says that she only cares about whatever she wants to do at the moment, but she isn’t a complete chaos. She does abide the law when her safety and survival depends on it. She is ready to fit herself within the rules and regulations of let’s say the army for the same reason. But she is not afraid to toss it all to wind if she feels the need to. Because above all else, she craves her freedom – even if she knows that people like her cannot really be truly free. So she settles for whatever short instances of it she can catch.

8. Are there certain traits they value? Honour, integrity? Or do they feel such things aren’t necessary to live true to oneself?

Neve values adaptability, competence, versatility… the traits of a survivor and traits that can be useful in any way to her or her goal. She doesn’t care much about the personality of the people she surrounds herself with as long as they can get the job done or they are giving her the sense of safety. She isn’t all that fond about so called “higher values” thinking them all either a smoke screen, hiding the more sinister things or an utter bullshit fed to children through tales so they wouldn’t vex their parents.

The instances where those things turned out to somehow be true were just an exception from the general rule and nothing more.

 9. What is their presence like? How are they perceived through posture, gait, and demeanour?

Much like with her personality, most things Neve’s appear to be is a carefully crafted image, build for the sake of fooling the world around her. To enforce the personality she wants people so see. So she moves with grace and easy confidence, head held high in spite of her pointy ears. She wears armour and weapon and makes sure that people understand quickly that those are not for show. But is she needs to be flirty, she is going to lean over and unbutton a few buttons more. She becomes what the situation needs her to be – like a chameleon.

10. What drives them? Do they have high ambitions or none at all?

Survival. Survival is what drives her from the early childhood. The will to live. And the desire to show the middle finger to the world that hates her. Does she has any higher ambitions? Not really – she knows that someone for her social standing is worth little more than a dirt. Maybe if she was born a mage, she would be able to forge a different fate for herself. But she was not born a mage.

[Part 1]

[100witches]

2- Nancy Downs (Fairuza Balk)

2- Nancy Downs (Fairuza Balk). The Craft (1996).

I can’t tell if I love this movie because it holds a special place of witch nostalgia in my cold black heart, or if its actually a freaking great movie. I try to watch it several times a year, and it keeps just getting better and better. It is unquestioningly one of my all-time favorite movies about witchcraft, and conveys the practices of real witches in a way somewhat unparalleled in cinema. Perhaps this has to do with the fact that the film employed a Dianic Priestess and Information Officer of the Covenant of the Goddess (a multi-denominational Wiccan collective), who sought to couch realness and truths inside a medium she knew would nevertheless have grandiose Hollywood overtones. Or perhaps it has to do with the fact that witch icon Fairuza Balk is cast in an empowering, albeit tragic, character. Either way, The Craft, and Fairuza Balk, fundamentally shaped my witch-identity, and that of an entire generation of young witches, Pagans, and Wiccans alike.

The plot of the movie conveys dozens of classic themes about witchcraft. It begins with a group of social outcasts who reside in the margins of the hallways. They come from diverse backgrounds and various tribulations which have made them feel powerless. On one side, you have Rochelle (Rachel True #40) and her confrontations with racism, prejudice, and bigotry. On another, you have Bonnie (Neve Campbell) and her physical ailments and scars that, especially in high school, are perceived of as grotesque and ugly. On a third side, lies our dear Nancy, her alcoholic mother, abusive stepfather, sexual proclivity, and (as Rochelle puts it), her innate destiny as white trash. The three young girls, feeling powerless in their world, discover witchcraft as a means for gaining confidence, power, and protection. Witchcraft acts as a way to interpret the chaos around them, and can be used as an arbiter of justice against the world that has forsaken them. I get an all encompassing sense of deja vu every time I see the scenes of them walking down the hallways of their school, not just because I’ve seen this movie  a trillion times, but because my friends and I were those kids. We all had our problems and difficulties, and together found various forms of witchcraft, ceremonial magic, and other occult traditions as a means to understand the world around us.

You’d think by the length of this post already that we’d be halfway into the movie, but it hasn’t even started yet. While I’ve spoken at length in this series as to the power of three (Charmed #67, the Graeae/Moirai #64, the Weird Sisters #5, et. al), modern witchcraft and most denominations of Wicca continue this ever building strength in numbers to a notion of four-ness. The aforementioned girls, while attempting to practice magic, are held back as their circle in incomplete. Ritual witchcraft often has a Calling of the Corners/Quarters, East, South, West, North, which requires the participation of four practitioners. This is the actual plot of the movie, as the fourth arrives as another ostracized woman. Sarah Bailey (Robin Tunney) transfers in to the school. As if being a new kid wasn’t tragic enough, her mother has died, and Sarah now struggles with depression and suicide. Sarah is a perfect candidate for a new initiate into witchcraft— she too needs to find strength and order in the world around her.

Now complete, the coven truly begins to explore witchcraft and magic in earnest. Rochelle, as a swimmer and character who is surprisingly malleable and soft-hearted, takes the West—water. Bonnie, who suffers from tragic burn scares and self confidence issues, takes up the South—fire. Sarah, whose magic stems from her mother and hereditary witchcraft, takes up the North—earth. And Nancy, crazy, crazy Nancy, whose own imagination is her only limit, takes up the East—air. Together, the girls perform some of my favorite cinematic interpretations of actual magic. The classic “we are the weirdos” forest scene (“In perfect love, in perfect trust”), as well as the notorious beach invocation scene, are truly unrivaled interpretations of actual witchcraft and Wiccan rituals.

There are dozens of undercurrents of classic witch themes throughout this movie. The juxtaposition between natural, hereditary witches like Sarah, and learned occultists like Nancy, illustrates the differences in witch-lore between magic/power being innate versus acquired. While both are true (magic can be both natural and learned), this tension between those with magic and those who learn magic is reminiscent of a kind of Promethean battle for power and strength—who can steal the fire first. In the case with Sarah and Nancy, the hereditary witch ultimately wins (ugh they usually do). However, this is not due to increased ability or a genetic superiority/predisposition to magic. Instead, Sarah becomes the victor due to purity of heart and intent. The movie is wrought with the philosophy that magic is neither good nor bad, it is the intent and the person who can manipulate magic in either direction. As the bomb-ass witch in the occult shop, Lirio, puts it—Nancy takes it to a dark place.

I could certainly do a post on Sarah, and perhaps that could come after this 100. She is a great representation of a witch, from the strength of her mother to her defeating her own sisters who have turned on her. Sarah’s magic is some of the strongest we see, most notably her final binding of Nancy. In another great representation of Sympathetic Magic, we see Sarah perform a magical binding to prevent Nancy from doing harm to others or herself. By wrapping a ribbon around an image of Nancy while repeating the mantra, Sarah hopes to stop Nancy from her (self) destructive behavior. Sarah repeats the binding in their final fight scene, and in a moment of script writing brilliance, Nancy is thus fated to being truly bound to a bed in a psychiatric ward at the end of the movie. Unfortunately Nancy becomes institutionalized as she’s flown too close to the sun, but she is unquestioningly unable to do harm to anyone while in that padded room.

So, WHY NANCY? As a character, she is one of the most bad ass witches I can think of. Despite her flaws, she has a strong sense of morality and is fiercely protective of her sisters. She uses witchcraft to punish a sexual predator (….full transparency here, she kills him…) and sees power as a means of uplifting both herself and others. Her tragic flaw comes in her full and total submission to her religious philosophy (Minnie Castavet #19 and Bellatrix Lestrange #15). She is unfortunately unable to control herself once she realizes her full power, as she has invoked all the power of Manon*. Nancy illustrates the journey of many witches, from disenfranchised outcast, to an empowered and autonomous woman, to, yet again, a woman suffering from a mental health crisis. Solidifying The Craft in its explication of witch archetypes, Nancy conveys the long history of witchcraft in a single character.

BUT FAIRUZA?!  

I can’t think of another actor who has done as much for witch-lore as Fairuza Balk. In addition to her role in The Craft, Fairuza has appeared as Dorothy Gale in Return to Oz (1985, mentioned with Mombi #48), as Mildred Hubble in The Worst Witch, as well as  dozens of other, non witch related roles. Fairuza’s mother studied Egyptian, Turkish, and Moroccan traditional dance, and her father is allegedly of Romani and Cherokee ancestry. Fairuza has been acting since she was a young girl, and continues her career as a musician and artist. A quick visit to her website reveals that she sells and designs custom sigils, symbols which are imbued with certain magical principles. In many ways reminiscent of witch-icon Stevie Nicks (#59), rumors have been circulating as to whether or not Fairuza is a practicing witch for decades. It didn’t help when stories circulated about the Dianic expert allegedly initiating one of the cast members of the film, or when Fairuza herself purchased an occult shop in L.A. She has stated that she first learned about witchcraft through The Craft, as so many of us in my generation have. Whether or not she’s out of the broom closet is besides the point. Fairuza remains one of my all time witch-icons, and I am greatly indebted to her for her work in furthering the tradition.

*Manon is perhaps one of my favorite parts of the movie. Due to the fact that the actors were performing actual Wiccan rituals, they were advised against using the name of an actual existent deity. Instead, Manon was created to prevent any actual invocation from occurring, especially by young fans wanting to mimic the film. Good thing too, because the aforementioned beach scene invocation resulted in swarms of bats, crashing waves extinguishing the candles in the scene, and a total loss of power on the set. No joke—that all actually happened. The description of Manon, too, as the Stadium and Field on which God and the Devil play football, is beautifully illustrative of much of Pagan theology.

[aenslem]

look, this is old stuff i wrote a long time ago but im not even editing it, so im trying to gif ouat and i have to actually rewatch some parts to find scenes i want to gif, mostly sq (of course) but every time i do it i remember how much i hate the way it treats regina!

don’t get me wrong, i was thinking same when i just started it and yeah, i liked regina but i was not like SHE IS THE LOVE OF MY LIFE back then and i still feel it. i hate the way they treat her.

i do realize who she was and what she did, she was a total bicth, with bad communication skills, instead of trying to get what she wants the right way she threatened people, manipulated them, killed them. and i could go miles how it’s the only way she knows, which is true but i will not. i will not start defending her here, i will just say that if take away all of knowledge we have, about what disney characters they were before and if we look at it only as a people who live in a small town called storybrooke, with  a mayor who has adopted son, son who finds his real mother and brings her there thinking they are all story book characters, don’t you think it is kind of unfair to regina?

let’s see, madam mayor, maybe not the happiest woman alive had some kind of a relationship with sherrif and tried to not show it to her son, who only found out he was adopted and freaked out on the level to think his mother is Evil Queen! so, i think i can understand why she would not want henry to know about it yet. maybe she is strict mother, but she did try to give henry everything from what i see. but somehow, everyone knows BETTER.

when emma arrives she suddenly feels a need to protect and be sure HER son is fine because she met this woman for 30 minutes and decided she knows better. she literally says that to regina in second episode that she knows better. i mean, rewatch that red panties scene with apples. can you imagine what mother would feel if a woman who gave up a child for adoption, never was interested in finding him would come into your life and would tell you she knows what is best for YOUR child after knowing you for a day?? then suddenly the doc you hired to help your child to get those fiction stuff out of their head tells you YOU ARE NOT A GOOD MOM FOR HIM AND AFTER KNOWING HENRY’S REAL MOM FOR A FEW DAYS SAYS HE WILL GO WITH HER BEING HIS MOM THAN REGINA, i mean yes, she could ask nicely to do a better job instead of going with his fantasies, with recent events you are impatient and feel like your son is more away from you than ever, his real mother is there to take him away, but she did how she knew to deal with stuff, everyone is on emma;s side after knowing her for a few minutes because BECAUSE???/ we know who emma is, they don’t! she could be a serial killer but who cares if you are nice you get pass as a good guy and everyone suddenly accepts you, and just because you don’t treat people with a smile every day they think you are the worst bitch ever, just because she tells you to fuck off from a man who just woke up from coma to find that there was a wife of his and gets into romance with another woman he doesn’t know, ruining his promising life with his wife you are suddenly lebeled as a bad person. what a one sided show i swear. 

i mean, it is ok to have relationships with two women because it is true love and you are all heroes but having affair with a man and not telling your son because you don’t want to make things worse and you are suddenly a bitch!? what the...

so, then suddenly the man she was with breaks up with her because of that woman who is also a real mother of your son but suddenly YOU ARE the problem again. because it doesn’t matter that it all started with her appearance, YOU ARE the problem because you don’t act nice. you don’t go all lovey dovey in front of everyone, running around screaming about true love, i mean if she did i am sure everyone would take it better.

i know she is the evil queen, she did all the bad things and all, she acts like a bitch and all. but honestly, none of other characters know it, they rarely show what bad stuff regina did to them, they just fear her and we should accept it because the show tells us she is evil queen. BUT they don’t know, inside this show emma doesn’t believe it, mm doesn’t know it, graham doesn’t know it, archie doesn’t know it, none of them know anything. but suddenly they all know better what is best for the boy and town and not the mother who raised him and the mayor. 

i understand emma’s reasons of what she does, but don’t you think it’s a little bit selfish of her? i mean, if you wanted family NOW,why not creating it? why, yes after getting dragged there, you don’t leave and create that family instead of ruining the existing one? maybe if you left (ok town did not let her) henry would stop? i am looking at this from a non magical side because it shows kinda real world, and henry believes in a thing as a child believes he has imaginary friend, you of course don’t rip it off asap, you go slowly, but with everything those people do, they just add gasoline to fire from my side. 

imagine the potential of this show if it was not about fairy tale characters? it would be fucking amazing, regina would go crazy because of this and try to get rid off emma, i would to, if my son was taken away from me, my comfort life would be destroyed just because someone suddenly felt they want everything they gave up back, so many years after and blaming you for all the problems instead of helping. 

SHE HAS ALL THE REASONS TO BE A BITCH IN THAT SITUATION. you come into her life, ruuining it so fast, what did you expect? her to accept you with open arms? fuck off. i would be mad! 

yes, maybe graham did not feel anything for her, and we know he did not, regina took his heart away, but emma doesn’t know that right? so, when he tells regina it’s over, and regina says it is because of emma, both of those idiots say it is not because of emma, but it does happened because of her! but suddenly both blame regina and emma is a good guy because of her they saw how bad regina is and it is her problem now,. emma is not at fault, she is victim here. what the fuck??? 

ok, i will explain it better, you come into this woman’s life and threaten the peace with her son and even threaten her rights to be his mother for her, then suddenly with your appearance, kisses in the street and all the stuff the man with whom regina slept is breaking up with her and it is still regina being a problem? i am sorry, but do you think anyone would take it fine? i would fucking kick the shit out of emma... wait, yeah, regina tried.

don’t get me wrong,regina is a bitch and did horrible shit, i know graham is a victim here, his heart was taken away, but emma doesn’t know any of it, but she still acts like she knows better when she is the actual reason for that break up, (not taking in mention that he remembered because of emma because for emma he kissed her and that’s all) for emma he is just a man who slept with a mother of her son and kissed emma also. and then he breaks up with regina but it is still not her fault, it is regina because suddenly graham doesn’t feel anything for regina. 

so, i will write it down again, it is ok when david kisses mm while still being with his wife because it is love, but emma breaking up the only relationship (kinda) regina had is ok because it was not love. like father like daughter huh kissing people while they are not free...

this show IS one sided. later of course we get more reasoning of regina’s actions and all. but first episodes are fucking horrible in that way, and i am not even mentioning all the adoption issues and showing it the way this show did, because if i start i swear i would go much more with it. i could write entire book of how fucked up it all is in the beginning. that’s awful.

what i am trrying to say is, they could do much better, but they tried to show regina as a bad person so hard they did not think how this looks from apart, because it seems like good guys are good no matter what they do, be it having affair on side, ruining someone’s relationship, threatening peacefull life of a woman because you suddenly want a family and back your son who you gave up after giving a birth to him... you are still good because you do those things to bad people.

and i remember the cora here, because snow’s mom was a total bicth to cora and still got passed as the nicest of all while cora became the worst person ever and got a worst mom of the century award. good guys are still good no matter how bad they are, because somehow the bad things they do, they do to evil people, who were not evil until good guys did those things to them. so, batman situation here, you create your enemies and you are responsible for it, i am not saying cora or regina were saint or something, but imagine if snow’s mom was not a jerk to cora, how things would go? snow and david literally stole a child from a person and ruined her life because that person was evil, so who cares? but when their child was separated for them, yeah, oh regina you are so bad!

and all that stuff with blood relations?? like they are the only true connections and all? the beginning sucked with it! and when it got better with this, the show became a shitty with plot. 

i just have so many issues with this show and i know this rant doesn’t change anything and all, it’s too late cause it is finished, but yeah, it exists and someone with a mind not developed yet will watch it and think that being adopted is bad thing and when it gets better plot starts to suck so they stop watching and they are left with a thought of it, and that might stay with them. this shit bugs me because im 27, i don’t want to give a birth, i always thought i will adopt a child and im not gonna get married to a man, that i know.  

and what if when i finally have a kid his real mom appears? it’s not about sharing but constant fear that the child will stop loving you because they have REAL mom. i never thought about blood relations as important, for me it’s more about who raised you and gave you everything in your life, did everything for you. i don’t even have a kid yet and already think about shit like this, these kind of things stress the hell out of me. media has a lot of impact on people and ouat is not the only one being shitty in that matter, so yes, it is important that later regina and henry got their happy ending, but before that? how many stopped watching and were left with what it was in the beginning? it would not show regina as less evil if they at least once mentioned that henry is conflicted about thinking that his mother is evil queen, because that is the woman who raised him after all. but no, he jumps into that so easily... in s2 they start everything else with regina and henry’s dinamics. that they finally become family. but before that?? dude that was horrible.

anyway, i did not intend it to be this long, and honestly i could add even more, im just too tired and i try to focus on good stuff in that show, because yes, somewhere there was trapped a really good show which was fucked up by horrible writing. the potential it had. it could be epic. and i don’t even speak about swen here.